The founders of Creamery Boutique Ice Creams, Ian Lee and Jerry Chompunuch Jomsangawong, are grateful for any comparison to ice cream giant Ben & Jerry's, and they hope one day to attain the same level of success.

Apart from the unconventional ice cream flavours, it’s the slogan that never fails to catch people’s attention: ‘All because two people fell in love’. The Ian and Jerry love story began in a little village in Switzerland where Ian and Jerry were attending Les Roches International School of Hotel Management. With just more than 200 students, the tiny college town Bluche was the kind of community where almost everyone knew each other. Yet surprisingly, that was not where these two started their relationship. Although they had mutual acquaintances, the two never took notice of each other.

After graduating, Ian was offered a job at Mandarin Oriental Bangkok as maitre d’ hotel of The China House, while Jerry took a position as front office agent for The Sukhothai Bangkok. It was here in Bangkok their relationship finally blossomed. After spending more time together and seeing Jerry’s skill in the kitchen, Ian spent almost three months trying to convince Jerry to resign from The Sukhothai Bangkok, and he then arranged for an unpaid internship with the pastry section at Mandarin Oriental Bangkok.

All the Right Ingredients

Ian explains the motivation for opening Creamery Boutique Ice Creams: ‘The happiest that I have ever seen Jerry is while she is making desserts.’

Ian and Jerry had long talked about having a place to call their own, but it wasn't until a year later that their ideas started to take form. In May 2012 they found an ideal shop front located in the U Centre of Chulalongkorn University. Ian had just settled into his new position at The Metropolitan Bangkok, and it was the perfect time for Ian and Jerry to make their dreams come true. Since then, everything quickly fell into place and they have never looked back.

Creamery Boutique Ice Creams is a very personal brand. Ian and Jerry designed every element of the place themselves and worked closely with the contractors from start to finish. Everything from the custom-made furniture to the signature light fixtures is an amalgamation of their two personalities. Ian believes that together they bring a good combination of experiences to Creamery Boutique Ice Creams: classical culinary theory from a Swiss hospitality education, innovative recipes and intriguing ingredients from their many travels, professional expertise from the very best luxury hotels in Thailand and work experience with some of the best chefs in the world.

All ice creams are made right at the shop. In fact, part of the attraction for customers is to watch Jerry at her art while she daily prepares recipes exclusive to Creamery Boutique Ice Creams. Ian and Jerry aim to develop each new flavour as inspiration strikes, so sometimes the availability of a fresh ingredient is enough to inspire a new creation. For example, they came up with the black sesame and soy milk of Midnight Soy after discovering a place selling wonderful, fresh soya milk near their home.

The creamery has about 10 flavours available at any given time. Flavours are rotated as perfected and by season. To highlight some of Creamery’s current signatures:

Brit Pop — Bacon & Eggs: a savoury bacon caramelised in brown sugar and gently folded into fluffy egg custard ice cream

Super Baby Milk Powder: a rich, creamy nutritious and nostalgic ice cream

CaLeHoYo — Short for Cardamom Lemon Honey Yoghurt, a fresh natural frozen yoghurt and sour citron jaune sherbet; topped with cardamom infused organic forest honey proved to aid in digestion

Berry Cheese Cake: a decadent cream cheese, savoury salteen cracker and sharp homemade mulberry coulis

Marry Me — Vanilla & Rosemary: real vanilla infused with aromatic rosemary

My Chocolate: 100% French cacao made for the true dark chocolate lover

Too Much So Matcha: a neo-classical flavour made from premium Japanese matcha green tea

Of all these unique ice cream flavours, CaLeHoY is Jerry's favourite and Super Baby Milk Powder is Ian’s pick. Both are their favourites for nostalgic reasons. Ian grew up with the exact same brand of milk formula and even now he still finds the flavour to be somewhat familiar and comforting. As part of a diet regime, Jerry once had a combination of lemon honey and yoghurt for breakfast almost every day and never shook the taste for it.

A Sweet Vision

As for the future of the Creamery, Ian and Jerry have planned for modest growth. Expansion of the brand name is a definite target, but the young entrepreneurs insist on remaining true to their core tenets of the highest quality product and a personal guest service experience. Ian and Jerry point out some of the best advice they’ve ever received, given to them by Ian’s mom. ‘People never make a fortune whilst trying to make a fortune.’ For now, Ian and Jerry have their hearts set on making a name for themselves in the industry. Whether a fortune will follow as it did for those two famous American ice cream makers, Ian and Jerry will simply take things one scoop at a time and see how things churn.